A goal programming method for obtaining interval weights from an interval comparison matrix

Crisp comparison matrices lead to crisp weight vectors being generated. Accordingly, an interval comparison matrix should give an interval weight estimate. In this paper, a goal programming (GP) method is proposed to obtain interval weights from an interval comparison matrix, which can be either consistent or inconsistent. The interval weights are assumed to be normalized and can be derived from a GP model at a time. The proposed GP method is also applicable to crisp comparison matrices. Comparisons with an interval regression analysis method are also made. Three numerical examples including a multiple criteria decision-making problem with a hierarchical structure are examined to show the potential applications of the proposed GP method.